public health

overall health of the community

Public health is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis. Health is defined and promoted differently by many organizations. The World Health Organization, the United Nations body that sets standards and provides global surveillance of disease, defines health as: "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Public health experts agree that nutritional, spiritual, and intellectual aspects also affect an individual's health.
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Pub·lic health n. Abbr. PH The science and practice of protecting and improving the health of a community, as by preventive medicine, health [more]Public health - Community and Resources

Medicine concerned with the health of the community as a whole. Community health.

Public health is covered by Article 152 of the EC Treaty (former Article 129), which was introduced by the Treaty of Maastricht. This article states that Community action is to focus on the prevention of illnesses, including drug addiction, by promoting research into their causes and their transmission, as well as health information and education. The Treaty of Amsterdam reinforces these objectives by requiring that the definition and implementation of all Community policies and activities ensures a high level of human health protection.

Under Article 152 action towards these ends may involve Community measures, complementing action by the Member States. But the main approach should be to encourage cooperation between the Member States, in line with the subsidiarity principle.

The institutional arrangements are that the Council adopts incentive actions on the basis of the codecision procedure, while recommendations are adopted by qualified majority on a Commission proposal. The Treaty of Amsterdam extends the scope of actions covered by the codecision procedure to include measures setting high standards of quality and safety of organs and substances of human origin, as well as measures in the veterinary and phytosanitary fields.

See:

•Codecision procedure
•Food safety
•Precautionary Principle
•Subsidiarity